The office of Homeland Security, from the official website, describes its mission as being
responsible "Éto develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national
strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate
the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and
recover from terrorist attacks within the United States."
WebsterÕs Dictionary & Thesaurus, page 113, tell us that "defend" means to "protect, guard,
uphold."
IÕm sure youÕre thinking "So what?"
HereÕs what: the Department of Defense website states "The ArmyÕs mission is to defend the
land mass of the United States and its territories, commonwealths and possessions and
overcome any aggressor that imperils our nation's peace and security."
I would say that a terrorist attack would certainly "imperil our nation's peace and security."
The DoD website continues "(the) Army is currently operating in more than 50 countries
performing duties such as securing the South Korea border and keeping the peace in Kosovo."
And there's the crux of the problem.
According to the government's own internal documentation, the Department of Defense exists
to, get this, defend the United States. Why then, do we need an "Office of Homeland Security?"
Why not rename Tom Ridge as the "Secretary of Defense" and Donald Rumsfeld as the
"Secretary of Offense," or the "Secretary of Overseas Power Projection"? After all, his Army is
busy seeing to the defense of Kosovo, Bosnia, South Korea, and others.
The Army has steadfastly refused to involve themselves in the true defense of the country,
preferring instead to refer to terrorists as a law enforcement matter and then pointing to the
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878(!) as their reason for avoiding the basic duty of defending the
country. We half-heartedly commit the National Guard under the pretext that while working
for their state governors, they are not technically part of the "Army" and not violating the
Posse Comitatus Act. Some perspective - in 1878, women and blacks could not vote, we had 38
states, and the Army belonged to a cabinet known as the War Department. The time for the
Posse Comitatus Act has come and gone.
Every defense review, every strategic study of US security policy begins with the premise that
the Army will not fight on American soil. Our blue-water navy defends our shores from any
unlikely enemy invasion. But the Army is making no plans to defend the US against the most
legitimate threat currently facing our nation: terrorists. These missions are handed off to the
National Guard while the Army dabbles in foreign adventurism of dubious value. Bring back
an armored division and the myriad "support forces" from Germany, bring back the soldiers
from Korea, and bring back the Marines from Okinawa. Focus overseas deployments where
(a) they're needed and (b) they're effective, such as Afghanistan or the Philippines.
The Defense Department needs to step up to the plate, and place the defense and mutual
security of its citizens ahead of the security of any other nation. The Defense Department
needs to assume control of the "war" against terrorism, and coordinate its efforts with the rest
of the government. The Defense Department, in short, needs to defend the United States.
Otherwise, the end result is another layer of federal bureaucracy that duplicates the mission of
an existing office. That existing office continues to use a 120-year-old law to justify shirking its
responsibility to the nation. And in the meantime, at least six different federal agencies play
pushme-pullyou with a new cabinet secretary who has neither tasking authority nor legal
control of the agencies he's coordinating.
It almost makes you want to study the new tax codes for fun.